“This of the expression 'Sam I am'” isn't clear at all and I don't remember how it goes in the original (my memory goes directly from the second line to the one after this). Maybe 'nimi ni 'jan Sanli mi'' or with the 'ni' at the end, or better yet converting it all into a name, say, 'Samajan'

moku waso lili en moku soweli laso li pona ala pona tawa sina?

I remember this as “(green eggs) and ham” rather than “green (eggs and ham)” or (as this can also be read) “eggs and green ham” The amphiboly aside, “egg” is usually 'sike mama' and “ham” 'monsi (pi) soweli (suwi)' (four choices). The 'moku' is implicit in the context and ca be dropped for any aesthetic purpose without damage. Probably 'moku pi waso lili' is meant but either is inappropriate with the picture which I remember as showing fried eggs on a plate.

jan pi nimi 'jan San li mi' o, ona li pona ala tawa mi.

'tawa sina'?

moku waso lili en moku soweli laso li pona ala tawa mi.

ma ni anu ma ni ala la ona li pona ala pona tawa sina?

Since 'ma ni' means both “here” (usually) and “there”, this is one solution. Another is 'ma poka anu ma weka' “Do you like them near or far/ I do not like them anywhar” Note that 'anu' already makes this a (slightly different) question. The 'la' phrase saves the answer from ambiguity.

These 'la' sentences can be reduced to at least just the the 'lon' phrase and sometimes to just what follows it – for aesthetics. Or the lon phrase can be moved to the end 'ona li pona tawa sina lon insa tomo'. The logic of this tale requires that this soweli is a mouse, but I assume the original is just “with a mouse” not “beside a mouse”, so just 'poka', not 'lon poka'.('soweli walo lili' seems more natural)

'ona' in place of 'ni' throughout, since it is the green eggs and ham, not their being in a house or here or there or with a mouse that I don't like (those are just where I don't like 'em). (anaphoric pronoun, not deictic.)

These last couple introduce the same ambiguities as the English, depending on whether the 'anu' or the 'ali' falls withon the scope of the 'ala'. Since this format seems to force that they do, the resulting claims are not what is wanted.

But here (perversely) you do need 'lon' and generally with 'insa' (and other body parts) , all of which also require 'pi' before two words or more for what they are parts of. So 'lon insa pi telo sewi' etc.

I get the imprssion (memory?) that 'sina tu e sina en mi' is meant to mean something like “You share it between you and me”. It doesn't mean that, the nearest I can thing of easily is 'sina pana e wan/kipisi ona tawa mi' “You give a piece of it to me”

is "kili laso jelo pi soweli jaki" acceptable for green ham? if i hyphenate like a parser… can the "pi" be dropped? it seems that "moku waso" or "moku soweli" might just as easily be translated as bird food and animal food. what about "mama sike" for egg? or possibly "kili pi mama waso"?

Well, I suppose that 'soweli jaki' will do for "pig", though it is a little unfair to pigs (but ties in with a popular view). On the other hand, 'kili' just seems wrong as a general word for "food". I suppose such a usage could develop, but it hasn't and I don't see any reason why it would or should. What is your argument for it?

Hyphens have no role in. tp per se, only in Mato's analysis and eve there they do not do away with 'pi', which actually is a part of the language.

Yes, the more you compress expressions in tp the more ambiguous they get (same as English or any language, usually). So, 'moku pi tawa soweli' and 'moku pi tan soweli' both compress to 'moku soweli'. tp can be pretty unambiguous, but it gets very long-winded in the process.

"egg" is 'sike mama'; it is a sphere, not a parent. It is not a fruit, either, though a better case is apparent there. 'sike waso' also works for "egg" in the food sense.

I still think that 'laso jelo' needs a 'pi', though the arguments goes on.

I would not suggest "kili" be used as a general word for food, but rather a word for the " product of". "kili pi soweli-jaki" would translate literally to "fruit of pig" or pork. In comparison, "moku soweli" translates to pig slop or dog food just as easily as anything. "monsi pi soweli jaki" is pig's butt. "mama sike" was a typo. "sike mama" maybe clear enough to be egg. "kili pi was mama" seems logical. kili pi pali mi li pona.

As to "pi", it is intended to separate a noun from another noun that has an adjective. If I use the hyphen, it's clear that those words are taken together, mimicing the way I would say them, negating the necessity of "pi" in this case. "kili pi soweli jaki" and "kili soweli-jaki" are equivalent. This would apply to "laso-jelo". jan Mato has written making a case just such usage.http://www.suburbandestiny.com/?p=217 it's rather old but I would guess that's how the hyphen made its way to the parser. I would argue that simple compounding using the hyphen is much clearer and more efficient. I recognize it's not canonical and you disagree with the usage but it's logical and easily understood.

English or other natural languages don't compress the same as tp. English added the word "ham" to circumvent the long-winded description without making it ambiguous. Adding words is a luxury not afforded to tp so it just becomes more and more ambiguous when compressed. My instinct is to be as concise as the language will allow. Is it better to embrace the ambiguity? Is the detail of this being ham and eggs important? This feels more like a paraphrase than a translation.

moku ante li pona ala pona tawa sina?

That removed the need for all those adjectives and removed the confusion a non-European may have over the concept of the butt of a disgusting animal and the testicles of a bird. They might have also assumed green meant rancid. It also takes care of any perceived slight to our porcine friends. Is it valid?

Well, translating or paraphrasing a nonsense work like this is an inherently impossible task. You may get nonsense, of course, but it will likely be a different ( and probably less funny) nonsense.Way too much depends on the sounds, for one very important thing.In this case, of course, a lot also depends on the pictures. There is also a lot of associations going on that militate against too much paraphrase: ham and eggs is a standard favorite; just shifting the order is already starting down a path toward something strange. Coloring them green has a lot of echoes for older people, for children they are just strange -- maybe exciting, maybe dangerous. All of that is lost in 'moku ante'. That is, yes, the particulars are important (it has to be in a boat with a goat, a vehicle with a critter won't do). 'kili' for"product of" make good sense but hasn't happened before.The contrast with 'moku soweli' is fairly convincing.Aside from the mischaracterization of 'pi', your discussion of hyphens mixes two things and misrepresents Mato. He used hyphens as an analytic tool to mark idioms or potential idioms;not a part of the llanguage but a tool for mechanical handling of the language. 'pi' is a part of the language; indeed, one of the parts that helps place hyphens in the analysis. But there are 'pi' phrases that don't get hyphens and many hyphens that are unrelated to 'pi'.